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I’ve scaled back my RSS ads experiment to show ads in half of my posts instead of every post. So far, the RSS ads are a dismal failure – averaging barely one click a day. Some feedback I’ve gotten from friends indicates this could be due to the ads being completely irrelevant to the content.

I don’t have a problem with ads in RSS fundamentally. I do however, have a problem with ads that aren’t relevent to the content and secondly, are somewhat loud and obnoxious, which I find the Yahoo ones to be. Ads like the ones in Slashdots or especially Engadgets I don’t mind at all because they blend right in and don’t distract me from the content, while also letting me know they’re there.

Absolutely. I think I commented on this before, when I got an ad for microderm abrasions or some such. To be honest, for how I use my RSS the impact is minimal if you include the ads, but it sure would be nice if they were even semi-relevant…

Most of the ads I’ve seen in your feed are totally unrelated to the content (at least seemingly to me, obviously their system thinks otherwise).

They’re also a good bit bolder than I’d like. A softer shade of blue would probably go a long way to making them less “loud and obnoxious” (as Matt aptly put it earlier). Removing the bold (if possible) from the link title would also help.

All-in-all, I find that I am more apt to click on a Google-supplied ad in a feed than I am a Yahoo-supplied one… It’s just a combination of style and content that makes everything better.

Unfortunately, we’re unable to accept your application for the program at this time. Because AdSense for feeds is currently in beta, we’re unable to accept all applicants into the program. If we’re able to extend our service to you in the future, we’ll be sure to let you know.

The RSS ads were an interesting failed experiment: 20 days, 10 clicks. Ouch!
I’ve removed the ads until they prove relevant enough to be more than just an annoyance to my readers. Maybe I’ll check see if they’ve improved in a few mo…